Putting Family First

The recent appearance on the scene of the couple known as Mister Blue and Miss Brown has caused a great deal of anguish and concern for local law enforcement authorities, both for their daring and for the manner in which they ensure those they find at home are kept out of the way. No real harm ever comes to them, but – well, to illustrate this, we are going to reconstruct a raid the pair made in one block of three flats in the Enfield area.

It was early November, and a decided chill in the air that swirled round the three story house. It had been converted some years back into three apartments, with secure entry and exit requiring rather the pass code or someone inside letting you in.

Each of the flats was occupied by a mother and daughter of adult years, each had separate entry locks, and each was occupied on the night in question. On the ground floor lived Emma and Karen Welch. Emma was in her early fifties, and worked at a local charity shop. Karen was a student in the final year of her law degree. On the night in question, they were both sitting watching television...

Emma ran her fingers through her greying hair and let out a low groan.

“Tired,” Karen said as she sat with her feet tucked under her bottom. She was wearing a high necked jumper with a grey, peach, red and black body and black checked sleeves, jeans and a pair of short black suede boots. Her long blonde hair fell over her shoulders and her front, as she looked at her mother.

“No – just bored of this program,” Emma said as she stood up, the leather of her tan knee length boot creaking as she did so. She was also wearing jeans, and a red round necked top. “What would you say to a coffee?”

“I’d say hello coffee – let me drink you,” Karen replied as she watched her mother walk towards the kitchen. Smiling, she picked up the remote control and flipped through the channels, trying to find something to watch.

She eventually came across a film, in which a female bank manager was being held hostage at home with her daughter.

“Well, at least things like that do not happen in real life,” she said with a smile.

“Oh I don’t know – you would be amazed what can happen.”

The voice was male, deep and had a slight tinge of an American accent. Emma slowly turned her head to see a man sitting next to her, wearing a set of blue overalls, black gloves and blue trainers. His head was covered in a sort of hood that blurred his features.

“Hello,” he said quietly, “I’m Mister Blue, and I need to ask you to keep very quiet for a few minutes. Isn’t that right, Miss Brown?”

“That’s right Mister Blue.”

Emma turned her head again to see a thin woman sitting on the other side of her, dressed in a brown roll necked sweater, leggings and knee length suede boots. She also had some sort of hood over her head, but Emma could make out the smile under the gauze covering her face.

She could also see the very real pistol she was holding in her gloved hand, as Mister Blue said “Please, invite your mother to come back in.”

Emma slowly opened her mouth and said “Mum – can you come in a minute please?”

“What’s the matter Em...” Karen stopped short as Mister Blue stood up, walked over and took her arm. “Do not be alarmed,” he said as he walked her over, “we’re just going to make sure you cannot stop us robbing you. Now, we need to ask the two of you to make a choice.”

“A choice,” Karen said as she sat down and embraced her daughter, “What sort of choice.”

“One of you will show us where you keep the valuables,” Miss Brown said as she produced several lengths of rope from a bag, “while the other is secured here first. So, who will be first?”

Karen looked at Emma, Emma looked at Karen. “You cannot ask us to choose,” Emma eventually said.

“And yet we are, and time is of the essence, so choose – now.”

“Very well,” Emma said as she stood up, “I will go first.” She allowed Miss Brown to pull her arms behind her back, arranging them so that her elbows rested in the palms of her hands before she started to tie them together, wrists to elbows.

“Are you going to be all right,” Karen said as she watched Miss Brown wrap rope around her daughter’s arms and upper body, pulling them into her sides. Emma nodded and watched as Mister Blue took her mother by the arm and walked her out of the room.

“Please sit down and stretch your legs out,” Miss Brown said, and as Emma did so she took more rope and pulled her ankles tightly together, the cords sinking into the brown suede as they were locked side by side. More rope went around her legs below her knees, before Miss Brown said “That’s better – now, sit nice and quietly, and enjoy the film.”

“Aren’t you worried I’m going to call for help?”

“Not really,” was her reply as she produced from somewhere Emma’s blue bandana and one of her pairs of socks. Separating them, she folded the cotton sock into a pad and said “Open wide now.”

“Our thanks for your co-operation,” Mister Blue said as he walked Karen back into the front room. Her wrists had already been crossed and secured together behind her back, with rope around her waist, midriff and upper arms to hold them in place.

“Mllrrtmmm,” Karen mumbled through the sock and scarf cleave gag, as Miss Brown stood back.

“Can you finish off here,” she said as she looked at Mister Blue.

“I think so,” he said, and the two women watched as Miss Brown left the room. Karen was made to sit next to her daughter, watching as her ankles and legs were secured, before Mister Blue used a final length of rope to tie their bound ankles to each other, and their upper legs.

“Now,” he said as he pushed the second balled up sock into Karen’s mouth, and then rolled a cream coloured silk scarf into a thick band, “You two enjoy the rest of the film.”

Karen could hear the jewellery of both of them jangling in the bag he was carrying, but they were in no position to stop him, as he smiled and left them in the front room....

When the police were finally alerted to what had happened, Karen and Emma were still there, fast asleep with their heads resting on each other. But that was not the only remarkable thing about their situation – or that of the two families in the flats above.

Speaking of which, while Emma was being gagged and Karen showing Mister Blue where the valuables were, in the first floor flat Dorothy Gale was considering a far more serious issue – her loneliness...

Dorothy was in a green funk. Not a blue funk – a green one. She was in a green funk because she had pulled on a baggy white jersey with a green swirling abstract pattern on it, with a white skirt over her green hose covered legs. The outfit was completed by a tan leather belt, and old baggy tan leather boots.

“Let me guess,” her mother said as she saw Dorothy sit back and run her hands through her straggly black hair, “Still no luck on the boyfriend front.”

“Nope.”

“Well you should live it up and dress up a little.”

“Like you, you mean? Does the words mutton dressed as lamb mean anything?”

Her mother Joanne was at least twice her age, but dressed as if she was younger than Dorothy. Tonight, her brown hair was swept back, and she was wearing a tight brown wool minidress, that showed her breasts under the material stretched tight, and a pair of knee length brown high heeled leather boots.

“You need to lighten up, kiddo,” she said as she fastened a pair of black earrings into place. “Let me get my bag, and then I’ll tell you the secrets to a happy life.”

“Live your age,” Dorothy mumbled under her breath as Joanne walked towards her bedroom, only to return a few minutes later, her arms raised and her hands on her head. Dorothy then saw the brown clad woman behind her, smiling under the gauze that obscured her face as she pointed the gun at her.

“Hello,” Miss Brown said quietly, “I need you to do something for me.”

“Wwhhhhh What,” Dorothy stammered. Miss Brown produced from somewhere a rill of silver tape, and tossed it over to Dorothy, before saying “Tape your mother up at her wrist and ankles please – I’ll tell you what to do.”

“please, Dorothy,” Joanne said quietly, “Do as she says.”

The young woman played for a moment with the roll of tape, before tentatively pulling the end loose. “Don’t be afraid,” Miss Brown said as she held Joanne’s wrist together behind her back, “Wind it round tightly and make sure she cannot separate them...”

As Dorothy wound the tape round, Joanne bit her lower lip, especially when her daughter was instructed to take the tape around her waist, the grey band contrasting with the brown wool as her wrists were locked into place.

“How did you get in here – I didn’t hear a door open or a window break,” Joanne said as Dorothy was made to wrap the tape around her upper arms and chest.

“Oh we manage it somehow,” a male voice said, and both women turned suddenly to see Mister Blue standing there, watching them. “Please, continue – we want to make your mother as comfortable as possible, so I suggest she sits down now while you secure her legs.”

Miss Brown helped Joanne to sit down, then instructed Joanne to tape her ankles together, as well as her legs below and above her knees. Once she had done that, she took the roll of tape from her and said “Now, you can come with me and we can find all your nice valuables, while Mister Blue here keeps your mother company.”

“I’ll be - nggg – I’ll be all right Dorothy,” Joanne said as Miss Brown took her daughter by the arm, and left her with the male intruder in the room.

“Now then,” he said as he produced one of her headscarves and a second roll of tape, “Open wide and say Ah.”

“Why are you robbing us? We don’t have anything especially valuable.”

“No – but it’s the combination that makes it worth it.”

“The combination?” Dorothy looked at the masked woman from her position on her bed, her arms taped together in a box behind her back from wrist to wrist and her upper body held by a band of silver.

“Indeed – we visited your downstairs neighbour a short while ago, and in a minute we will head upstairs.”

“But why?”

Miss Brown said nothing, instead kneeling in front of her and removing her boots before she taped her ankles and feet together, then her legs below her knees. “You may not believe it, but it’s fun,” Miss Brown said as she stood up, walked to the wardrobe and drew out a small green chiffon square.

“And to think I was worried about not having a boyfriend!”

“Put it this way,” Miss Brown said, “You now have a great chat up line – I was bound and gagged by a female robber!”

“Very funnrrnngnngg” Dorothy moaned as her mouth was stuffed with the scarf, and then covered in the tape. Helping Dorothy to lie on the bed, Miss Brown turned off the light, picked up her bag and checked Joanne, who was lying on the couch in the front room, taped and tape gagged as well.

Of Mister Blue there was no sign...

The reason for that was, about ten minutes earlier, the two living in the top floor flat had received a surprise visitor...

Ruth and Margaret McCormack were sat at the dining table, talking about the day they had both had. Ruth was in her mid-forties, and the deputy headmistress of a primary school, while Margaret was a newly qualified music teacher in her first probationary post.

Margaret still dressed casually at home, and this particular night had on a short sleeved khaki combat shirt over a grey t-shirt, jeans and baggy tan leather boots. She also had a large tiger skin print scarf tied round her neck, while her dark hair was fastened up in a bun.

As for Ruth, she was wearing a blue and yellow ethnic print tunic, with mid-forearm length sleeves and a round neck tied with a bow at the front, and a wide brown leather belt around her waist. The tunic came down to just above her knees, the dark blue hose covering her legs under the knee length black leather boots.

“Did you hear something,” Ruth suddenly said as she looked up.

“No – what did you...” Margaret’s voice tailed off as she looked to the door from the kitchen, and she mouthed “Oh my god...”

“Good evening,” Mister Blue said as he stepped into the room, smiling under his gauze mask as he pointed a gun in their direction. “Forgive the interruption, but I regret to say my friend and I are here to rob you.”

“To rob us? How did you get In here?”

“Magic,” was all Mister Blue said as he smiled at them. “Now, please, both of you stand up and sit on the floor, back to back. I need to make sure you are both secured, and I think I’ll get you both to do it instead.”

“You expect us to tie each other up?”

“No my dear,” he said with a smile, “I expect you to tie yourselves up. Now, get up, sit n the floor back to back, and bend your knees.”

Ruth and Margaret looked at each other, then moved off their chairs and sat themselves on the floor in front of the television. As they did so, Mister Blue slipped two lengths of cord from somewhere, handed them one each, and said “tie your ankles together, nice and tightly – make sure you take the rope between your legs as well.”

“You’re joking!”

“He’s not,” Miss Brown said to Margaret as she appeared as if from nowhere. “Now do it, before he gets angry.”

The two women looked at her, as she stood with her blurred face and folded arms, and then reluctantly started to bind their ankles together. “Tighter,” Mister Blue said as he watched Margaret, who grunted as she pulled the rope more, rubbing it against her leather clad ankles.

When they had both bound their ankles, they were each handed another length of rope and then instructed to bind their legs together, below their knees and above the tops of their boots. Once they had done this, they were told to link arms and clasp their hands together in front of them, on their bellies.

The two masked intruders then crossed and bound the wrist of the two women, making sure they cinched it between their arms, before they tied them down to the rope below their knees. Further lengths of rope held their arms together where they crossed, before their heads were taped together their mouths covered with white micropore tape so that they could not move.

Instead, they were forced to watch as their valuables were removed and placed in sacks, and then the two masked intruders waved and walked out of the room. No windows were opened, they did not hear any doors, and yet eventually they realised they were alone.

“Cummfffed,” Margaret mumbled to her mother. She felt Ruth nod her head a little, before she started to shuffle across the floor, her mother following her as she slowly made her way towards the telephone they had left plugged in.

When the Police responded to the emergency call, they had to call the building superintendent to let them in, before forcing the doors of all three flats to gain entry. That was when they realised that however the robbers had got into the house, they had not forced the front doors, or tricked someone into letting them in.

There were no signs of forced entry on windows, or on the fire escape outside the rear of the building. And yet, three flats had been robbed in one night, and the two masked intruders had managed to appear and disappear as if by magic.

But they had been there, and they had secured all six women. It was only when the super told them about the servant’s staircase in the house, and the dumb waiter lift that was still installed behind each of the flats, that they realised how they gained entry.

So the duo has struck again and again since then – and each time gained entry by some hidden means. You are reminded this sort of thing is rare...

“Ntrrnf,” she mumbled through her knotted scarf gag as she watched the blue and brown clad pair empty her jewellery boxes into their bags, while she lay spread eagled on her bed. She knew she should have bricked up that old closet – but who knew there was a second entrance to the cellar there?

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